[Wild Roses] Sun Queen
Title: I feel like a midget.
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Phoebe, Aleron, Joveta
Prompt: 03D "light"
Word Count: 483 517
Notes: before something new to learn.
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She kept forgetting how tall her husband's middle children were. Which was a somewhat silly thing to do, considering how very tall her husband was, and his brother less than a head shorter than Aifiric was himself, but she still managed it.
In being fair to herself, both Iarlaith and Aifiric tended to be sitting when she was interacting with them, or standing for politeness' sake or as an escort alone, not standing and flanking her like a pair of wolves--she cut herself off before she tried to decide if she felt more like a deer, a packleader or a pair of wolves' mother and tilted her head back the several hairs necessary to look at even Joveta in profile, and she was the shorter of the pair.
"Did your father ask you to accompany me?" she didn't venture, because she refused to admit to uncertainty even in her own head, as they hit the midpoint of a flight of stairs, her skirts carefully wafted up from the treads so they couldn't tangle around either her own or her companions' feet.
Aleron paused, two stair treads below her, and grinned down from his still-greater height. "Non, t'was Uncle Iarlaith who asked if we might stop by."
"I think he's hoping we'll intimidate the delegation you're meeting with," Joveta added from two treads above Phoebe, her voice threaded through with a treacle-sugar chuckle. "We don't sit down and we tend to take notes in our heads."
Phoebe found herself faintly amused despite herself, and started walking again, which started them moving, too. "Do tell, then--all I have are other people's notes to work from."
"Their formal leader thinks women aren't quite as good at this sort of thing as men," Joveta said, padding down the stairs and swapping places with her twin, so he was now trailing and she in the lead. "I couldn't tell you if it's because he thinks women are too cautious by nature or if it's because he's never caught a leRoux to the head before, but he'll look at Alle before he'll look at you for any decision or discussion."
"Will he now," Phoebe murmured, releasing her skirts in a faint puff of air as they reached the bottom of the stairs and she started taking full strides again. She refused to attempt to lengthen her stride to attempt to match theirs--she'd have to float to manage that--but they curbed easily and without seeming to mind.
"I'm not going to be able to avoid grinning the second time he does that," Aleron told the top of her head cheerfully. "Not after the first time you blindside him, anyway."
"See if you can channel your father in a betting mood when you do," she suggested, then paused briefly to touch the golden torc she wore in her hair, crowning herself with a very faint glimmer of light.
They managed to get their laughter under control by the time she swept into the meeting room. She knew she was smiling faintly as she allowed her hands to be bowed over in greeting by the delegation, and knew by the subtly nervous smiles of the men in front of her that the twins were smiling, too.
'Verse/characters: Wild Roses; Phoebe, Aleron, Joveta
Prompt: 03D "light"
Word Count: 483 517
Notes: before something new to learn.
---------
She kept forgetting how tall her husband's middle children were. Which was a somewhat silly thing to do, considering how very tall her husband was, and his brother less than a head shorter than Aifiric was himself, but she still managed it.
In being fair to herself, both Iarlaith and Aifiric tended to be sitting when she was interacting with them, or standing for politeness' sake or as an escort alone, not standing and flanking her like a pair of wolves--she cut herself off before she tried to decide if she felt more like a deer, a packleader or a pair of wolves' mother and tilted her head back the several hairs necessary to look at even Joveta in profile, and she was the shorter of the pair.
"Did your father ask you to accompany me?" she didn't venture, because she refused to admit to uncertainty even in her own head, as they hit the midpoint of a flight of stairs, her skirts carefully wafted up from the treads so they couldn't tangle around either her own or her companions' feet.
Aleron paused, two stair treads below her, and grinned down from his still-greater height. "Non, t'was Uncle Iarlaith who asked if we might stop by."
"I think he's hoping we'll intimidate the delegation you're meeting with," Joveta added from two treads above Phoebe, her voice threaded through with a treacle-sugar chuckle. "We don't sit down and we tend to take notes in our heads."
Phoebe found herself faintly amused despite herself, and started walking again, which started them moving, too. "Do tell, then--all I have are other people's notes to work from."
"Their formal leader thinks women aren't quite as good at this sort of thing as men," Joveta said, padding down the stairs and swapping places with her twin, so he was now trailing and she in the lead. "I couldn't tell you if it's because he thinks women are too cautious by nature or if it's because he's never caught a leRoux to the head before, but he'll look at Alle before he'll look at you for any decision or discussion."
"Will he now," Phoebe murmured, releasing her skirts in a faint puff of air as they reached the bottom of the stairs and she started taking full strides again. She refused to attempt to lengthen her stride to attempt to match theirs--she'd have to float to manage that--but they curbed easily and without seeming to mind.
"I'm not going to be able to avoid grinning the second time he does that," Aleron told the top of her head cheerfully. "Not after the first time you blindside him, anyway."
"See if you can channel your father in a betting mood when you do," she suggested, then paused briefly to touch the golden torc she wore in her hair, crowning herself with a very faint glimmer of light.
They managed to get their laughter under control by the time she swept into the meeting room. She knew she was smiling faintly as she allowed her hands to be bowed over in greeting by the delegation, and knew by the subtly nervous smiles of the men in front of her that the twins were smiling, too.